Bluffton is home to a popular pretzel brand
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – National Pretzel Day happened on Wednesday and is meant to recognize the significance of the salty snack in the United States.
Northeast Indiana is home to a pretzel maker of its own. Hershey Salty Snacks, The Hershey Company’s salty snacks division, operates a plant in Bluffton where it makes the popular Dot’s Homestyle Pretzels.
The plant was previously owned by Pretzels, Inc., which was founded in 1978 by Bill Mann and Bill Huggins. Pretzels Inc. was sold to Hershey in 2021.
Dot’s Homestyle Pretzels come in a variety of shapes and flavors are produced in Bluffton.
The Dot’s brand makes different types of pretzels including spinzels and star shaped and they also make cheese curls.
“One of our company’s biggest goals is to make Dot’s the number one brand in America,” said Nicole Acker, human resources lead for Hershey Salty Snacks. “Right now we believe we making progress towards that goal.”
To recognize National Pretzel Day, the plant along with the rest of the company held celebrations amongst employees. She said every year, Hershey holds celebrations at its different plants honoring it.
To help boost Dot’s profile, the company plans to launch a new national multi-media marketing campaign. The pretzels are sold nationally and can be found at grocery stores across the country.
At the plant, the pretzels go through different machines starting with the dough which gets cut into size and shape and are salted. They then are baked and then go through a drying process to give it the finishing touch before being packaged.
“The quality and taste is what makes our pretzels great,” she said. “The good thing about our pretzels is that you can take them on the go.”
The popular flavors tends to be original, she added.
“On average, people consume snacks about seven times day. Three of those times they are eating sweets while about four of those times are salty or savory snacks,” she said.
Hershey taking over Dot’s is part of the company’s strategy in getting into the salty snacks business since they are the more commonly eaten snack.
“We are passionate about making snack people enjoy again and again,,” she said. “I’m proud to be a part of it.”
Source: WANE
